Marin Voice: Closing health lab is a public safety risk

AS health care professionals who value our health, safety and quality of life, we are deeply concerned about the future of the Marin County Public Health Laboratory.

We know first-hand that in an emergency or disaster, public health labs are our first line of defense, testing for pathogens from Anthrax to E. Coli to H1N1.

The proposed closure of the county lab will push critical health services out of Marin, compromising our safety in the event of an outbreak or emergency and stripping our community of self-sustainable public health services.

Public health services are all too often taken for granted by communities who have them — and the work of public health labs across the country remains relatively unnoticed when they are efficient and effective at protecting the communities they serve.

In Marin County, few have heard of the lab at 920 Grand Avenue in San Rafael. But for the past 58 years the Marin County Public Health lab has been keeping us safe by testing our water, air and food, monitoring for environmental threats, responding to H1N1 outbreaks and protecting Marin residents from airborne illnesses and communicable diseases.

The proposed closure is projected to save the County of Marin only $300,000 dollars a year — that is less than $1 per Marin County resident per year to save vital health services that protect all of us, from our school children to the elderly and everyone in between.

We understand that California is facing significant fiscal challenges and that cutting public services seems like a quick-fix — but Marin does not have a budget deficit and consistently takes in more revenue than is paid out.

Historically, we have chosen to invest in our communities, resulting in the great schools, beautiful beaches, mountains and trails, great libraries, roads, open space and clean air and water that make the quality of life in Marin County legendary.

For our community's health, we are asking the county Board of Supervisors to keep Marin healthy and keep the Marin County Public Health Laboratory open.

The board has a choice — it can choose to cut funding and export our vital health services, or it can invest in our safety and keep the lab open.

We would ask that the supervisors protect our first line of the defense against diseases, and save the Marin County Public Health Lab.

Bill Remak of Petaluma is a leader of the California Chronic Care Coalition and chairman of the California Hepatitis C Task Force. John Buffum of San Rafael is psychiatric pharmacist and a clinical professor of pharmacy.